Life is full of risk. We spend our lives calculating how we can take more or less of it.
Go without life insurance – small risk.
Go without car insurance – bigger risk.
Go bungee jumping – even bigger risk.
Sit at home all day – no risk. Or is it?
Sit at home all day every day and you may not risk life and limb, but you risk living a boring life. And by that standard, every action carries with it some risk. It’s a question of what kind of risk you want to incur.
You can choose to not fly in airplanes. Cars seem safer. But in fact, cars are 2200 times riskier than planes. Your chances of dying in a plane are 1 in 11 million.
Let’s face it, a riskless life is impossible. The real question is “what risks are you going to take?”
Physical risks are the most obvious. But what about the emotional risks you take in getting to know another person? What about the risk of embarrassment when doing a new thing?
And what about spiritual risks? What would they be?
Suppose that God exists and you are an atheist – you are taking a pretty big risk. Or what if he exists and is a personal God who wants to be known. The atheist’s risk of not just being wrong, but missing out, goes up.
And what if that same personal God wants you to discover a life of peace and joy and you’ve discounted the possibility. What if you’ve chosen to believe a lie that there is no hope when in fact there is. What kind of a risk are you incurring?
Given that risk is an inevitable part of life, I’m committed to at least being aware of the tradeoffs in my choices. I don’t want to bury my head in the sand and pretend that I’m not taking risks when really I am.
If I’m going to risk, I’m going to risk boldly and intentionally.
Risking Spirit 